Yuirwood
The Yuirwood was an ancient forest located in the center of the nation of Aglarond. Once spanning the entirety of the Aglarondan peninsula, the human settlers of Aglarond caused the forests boundaries to recede to the center of the peninsula. Description The forest was named after the Yuir, an ancient race of star elves who once dwelled in the forest. The ruins of their civilization dotted the woods, reminders of the great elven society that once dominated the Aglarondan peninsula. The most prominent ruins were the menhir circles, which served as portals to other parts of the Yuirwood, Toril and even locations on other planes, such as Sildëyuir in the Feywild. The best preserved example of the menhir circles are found in the Sunglade. The Yuirwood was infused with both ancient and new magic. Notably, the mixture of magic within the Yuirwood rendered the forest impenetrable to scrying and divination magic, with any attempt to do so revealing only the woods themselves. During the Spellplague, the forest became riddled with plaguelands The portals found within malfunctioned catastrophically, opening to random destinations ranging from the Feywild to planes of nightmarish destruction. The ruins and menhir circles in particular seemed to attract the Spellplague, possibly due to their connection with the Feywild. History In −9800 DR, the Yuirwood was settled by green elves in the aftermath of the Crown Wars. In , the star elves began leaving other elven nations and gathering in the Yuirwood. In , the star and green elves founded the realm of Yuireshanyaar in the Yuirwood. The human empire of Unther battled Yuireshanyaar in −1250 DR for control of the southern Aglarondan coast, and the Yuir were driven back into the woods. From −1076 to −1069 DR, the Orcgate Wars occurred after an Imaskari wizard opened up a gate in Mulhorand to the orcs' home world, and Yuireshanyaar was pressed hard by the orcs. From −900 DR to −600 DR, faced with the encroaching humans along the Wizard's Reach (most from Old Unther), the star elf High Mages of Yuireshanyaar created a forest-wide network of stone circles and worked a mighty high magic spell through the stone menhirs to construct the extraplanar world of Sildëyuir. In the Year of Moon Blades Crashing, −699 DR, the star elves completely abandoned Yuireshanyaar for Sildëyuir, but many wild, or green, elves chose to remain in the Yuirwood. From 870 DR to 890 DR, humans from Velprin started to meet the elves of Yuir, after they had avoided contact for centuries. From 900 DR to 1050 DR, an intermingling of the humans and the elves gave rise to half-elves. In 1033 DR, the half-elves resisted Velprin. A large number of border clashes occurred. In 1059 DR, an army from Velprin, led by Indrila Demaz defeated the half-elf militia and the half-elves fled deep into the forest. Araevin Teshurr and his companions visited Sildëyuir in the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR. The Spellplague was nigh-catastrophic for the Yuirwood; large parts of Sildëyuir itself was pulled into the Feywild. In the years that followed, the inhabitants of the Yuirwood actively resisted the rulings of the Simbarch Council] with little consequence. Following the events of the Second Sundering, the Yuirwood returned to normal and the portals presumably began functioning normally again. Locations Menhir Circles were remnants of the Yuir civilization, worn standing stones carved with ancient elven dialects. While much of their magic has faded over the centuries, with the monuments all but completely enveloped by the undergrowth of the forest, they still functioned as a network of portals The knowledge of how these portals worked was reserved to an elite faction of druids and rangers once called the Masters of the Yuirwood, although occasionally the portals opened by themselves during the light of a full moon. These portals transported travelers to other parts of the Yuirwood, with some going to other parts of Toril. Some of the circles could even transport travelers to the demiplane of Sildëyuir, however those portals often only opened for star elves themselves. During the Spellplague, the menhir circles malfunctioned, sending those that travelled within them to random destinations, ranging from planes of unimaginable terror to the Feywild itself. The Sunglade was a meadow-like clearing in the center of the Yuirwood, marked by two cocentric menhir circles. The stones of the outermost menhir circle stand nearly 20 feet high. Each stone is dedicated to a member of the Seldarine, carved with intricate runes. The stones of the innermost menhir circle stands 6 feet tall, with each stone also covered in runes. However, rather than dedicating itself to the Seldarine, the stones are dedicated to the long forgotten pantheon of those who lived in the Yuirwood before the star elves themselves did. The Sunglade was untouched by the ravages of time and the clearing remained pristine despite the centuries of time that passed the Sunglade by. Inhabitants Populated by primarily by half-elves , rumored to be the descendants of Yuir themselves, the folk of the Yuirwood forest were said to be warm and fiercely loyal companions. However, they were highly insular, with little regard for what happened outside the borders of their forest. The people did recognize the authority of the Simbul, however they later disputed the authority of the Simbarch Council during the 15 century DR. Additionally, the constant encroachment of the borders of the Yuirwood have rendered the woods' inhabitant suspicious of strangers, including coastal Aglarondans. Following this encroachment, the people of the forest rarely interacted with any stranger, unless pressed by circumstance. Few malevolent creatures roamed the forest, however the vicious boars and monstrous spiders provided just as much danger to an unprepared traveler. Appendix Appearances ;Novels: * The Simbul's Gift ;Modules: * The Twilight Tomb References Further Reading * Category:Forests Category:Locations in Aglarond Category:Locations in the Unapproachable East Category:Locations in East Faerûn Category:Locations in Faerûn Category:Locations on Toril Category:Locations